Social Media Marketing Guide: For Painting Businesses

Social media can be a game changer for local painting companies, but if implemented incorrectly it can also be a huge waste of time and money.

In this article we will review how you can leverage social media to grow your following, reach your audience, and capture new leads for your painting business.

Before we investigate which social platforms produces the best results for professional painters, it’s important to understand your audience.

We have identified the two distinct audiences in the professional painting industry:

Ok so how do we put this data to use? Let’s review these numbers to come up with an actionable demographic.

For both residential and commercial painters we have identified men and women between the ages of 30-60 years to be your primary audience. This demographic makes up not only homeowners with your target income, but also business owners alike. You can use this demographic information to refine your audience targeting on social media.

Most painting business owners we encounter often use the social media platform(s) they’re most familiar with. Unfortunately, this can lead to your posts falling on deaf ears. Just because you like a social network doesn’t mean your customers are listening there.

Let’s dive into which social media platforms produce the best results for professional painters:

Yes, size matters, but engagement is even more important. For example, Twitter has over 396 million users worldwide, but it only makes up for 8% of the MAU (monthly active users) on social media in the United States. Now let’s review where your audience spends the most time.

Facebook still reins supreme in the social media space. Over 55% of their 262 million monthly active visitors will fit your target demographics. We recommend posting at least 3-5 times a week to keep your audience engaged. Advertising should be restricted to retargeting traffic from your website. Leverage stories for even better engagement. Before/after pictures tend to get the most traction on this social network. You can also link your painting business’s Facebook Page to your Instagram account for easy sharing across both platforms.
(Source: Statista)

Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook, is the best medium for posting before/after images of your painting jobs. Facebook and Instagram combined make up nearly 50% of the social media market share. Roughly 58% of the 127 million monthly active users will fit your target demographics. We recommend posting at least 3-5 times a week to keep your audience engaged. Advertising should be limited to retargeting from your website. Use high-quality images with good lighting. While your phone’s camera can get the job done we recommend investing in a DSLR camera if you can swing it.
(Source: Statista)

Founded by Chinese Internet company ByteDance in 2006, TikTok is a relative newcomer. With a track record of imposing censorship and violating user privacy, TikTok is no stranger to controversy. Around 59% of the 79 million monthly active TikTok users will fit your target demographics. Note that this is more user engagement than Twitter in the US. With thats said, given the smaller market share we only recommend using this platform as a way to generate new content for other social mediums.
(Source: Statista)

By definition YouTube is in fact a social network. Roughly 68% of the 126 million monthly active users will fit your target demographics. Since videos typically require more resources and planning to produce we only recommend this platform for advertising. If your painting company has the bandwidth to produce monthly “how-to” videos they also tend to rank well in search results. Remember, you’re speaking to your customers so it’s important to only post videos that may be of interest to them. For instance, a well-produced video titled “How-to properly use painters tape” is sure to generate traffic to your website.
(Source: Statista)

At just 68 million monthly active users, Twitter makes up the smallest market share in the United States. Only 42% of Twitters audience will fit your target demographics. We recommend using Twitter as another method to expand your digital footprint online. Weekly posts are fine here.
(Source: Statista)

While LinkedIn makes up nearly 20% of the active users on social media in the United States, most of this activity is B2B engagement (hiring and networking). Roughly 76% of 185 million active monthly users will fit your target demographics. We recommend using this platform for commercial outreach. LinkedIn Advertising can be a cost-effective way to reach your commercial audience. Weekly posts are fine, or simply repost what you share on Facebook.
(Source: LinkedIn)

No, your Google Business Profile is not a social network, but it does act like one. Generally speaking, the more engagement your profile receives the better you will rank within local search and on Google Maps.

Post to your GBP often

Who knew you can post to your Google Business Profile?! An easy win is to simply repost anything from social media to this profile, within reason. Images, content, and a link to your website will all encourage user engagement and drive more potential leads to your painting business.

Did you know we also have a full article detailing how to optimize your Google Business Profile?

The vast majority of your audience will not be confined to just one social network. As a result it’s important to keep your brand identify consistent across all platforms.

For instance, if someone likes your Facebook page they will expect to see the same business name, profile picture, and cover photo on LinkedIn and Twitter. If possible, we also recommend keeping your social media usernames the same as well.

Tip: Review your profile on both your mobile phone and desktop computer. Cover photos and profile pictures crop differently on various screen sizes. For example, if you include your phone number in your cover photo and it’s readable on your laptop it could be cropped on your mobile profile.

Notable exception

Hashtags and your tone of voice are acceptable elements to change between platforms. For instance, since TikTok users make up a younger demographic they will be more open to slang and trendy videos than users on LinkedIn.

User engagement on social media is a critical KPI used to determine how often your posts are shown to your target audience. Planning ahead helps keep the content you’re sharing fresh and consistent. This is where a marketing calendar comes in.

What is a marketing calendar?

In terms of social media, it’s simply a schedule used to plan what content you are going to post each day. In general, the farther ahead you can plan the more consistent, quality posts you will be able to produce.

We recommend planning your content out at least a month ahead.

Why is a content calendar important?

For scalable engagement on social media it is important that you post regularly. If we compare two identical accounts, but one posts double the amount of content, they are likely to see double the user engagement.

In short, the more you post on a regular basis the more favorable a social network will view your content. With more engagement comes more traffic to your website, and ultimately more traffic = more leads.

How do you create a content calendar for your painting business?

Hint: You don’t need a dedicated resource for this one. We have found success using the following social media management services.

For those on a budget, Later offers a free account that will cover most social media management needs of a small-medium sized painting business.

Pros: Free plan is great for new businesses on a budget.

Cons: There are some limitations. For instance, Later does not integration with your Google Business Profile and the free account cannot post to stories or multiple images to Instagram.

While Loomly does not offer a free plan, it is the most comprehensive social media management platform for the price. At the time of writing this article the base Loomly plan starts at $35/month and is great for any painting business with the budget.

Pros: This is one of the few platforms that integrates directly with your Google Business Profile.

Cons: The cheapest plan is over $300/year.

As mentioned above, every social platform has different expectations for frequency and content types.

To start, yes, it is possible to post too often. For instance, posting on Facebook multiple times a day is not a good method to increase user engagement. In fact, some social networks may block or flag your account as SPAM.

We find the sweet-spot to be between 3-5 times a week on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, once a week on Twitter and LinkedIn, and once a month on YouTube.

Social media will fail to deliver results if you don’t provide your audience value. Your content needs to be high quality and offer something your followers will appreciate and engage.

Examples of this include job site before/after pictures, customer reviews, special offers, how-to guides, and important business updates like the addition of a new team member or special hours for the holiday.

Your content doesn’t always have to be new and unique. For example, it’s completely acceptable to repost an article from another website. As long as what you share is relevant to your business, location, and it’s content your audience will find valuable, share-away!

It’s always important to respond to potential leads within a few minutes of first contact, but on Facebook this is especially true.

You have probably seen the “Responds within XX minutes” badge on a Facebook page before. This is an earned element of your Facebook page that increases user engagement and builds customer trust.

Chat Bots

Social media does take effort, and you may not always be available to chat. Most social platforms offer a free chat bot that allows you to enter common questions and provide relevant answers. Canned responses will never be as powerful as personalized messages, but they are absolutely better than nothing.

We have found success with answering the basics, such as:

Social media is a great way to engage your audience for free, but it can be difficult to produce quality leads without an investment.

How to advertise on social media

Yes, there is a right and wrong way to advertise on social media. It’s important to understand “buyer intent” —  the likelihood that someone will purchase your services.

On social media buyer intent is extremely low. Why? Because users on social media are there for pictures of cute puppies, not to research your painting business.

Sure, you can refine your target demographics by location, age, and interests, but you will still waste a large portion of your ad spend on an unengaged audience.

Use retargeting

The best method of advertising on social media is through the use of retargeting. Simply, retargeting is a method of only advertising to those who have previously visited your website. Note that this does require a website to be effective.

Why does retargeting work?

Because we established buyer intent. At this stage retargeting functions more as a reminder service for your prospect. Serving them an ad after they were on your website will help recapture the traffic to convert them into a hard lead.

How to implement retargeting?

Every social platform is different, but they all typically consist of two components: a tag and a custom audience. You will start by copying/pasting the provided tag into the header of your website. Next set your ad audience to “website traffic” so you are only targeting those who have expressed interest in your services.

If implemented correctly social media can be a free resource to generate new repaint leads for your residential or commercial painting business. While it is more labor-intensive than most marketing tools, it’s a medium your customers will expect you to utilize.